On Oct 10, 2016, the second pastoring class of Jiangxi Bible School started. 23 Pastoral fellow workers from across the province started a month of study in Jiangxi Bible School's Grace Mountain school.
At the inaugural ceremony, Pastor Yao Baoshan, Chairman of Jiangxi Christian Council, congratulated everyone on becoming students of the second pastoring class, and blessed everyone to receive increasing grace at Grace Mountain. He also encouraged the students to treasure the time and study hard. Pastor Li Yungen, president of the school, emphasized that the students needed to adjust at Grace Mountain School in three ways. First, they should adjust who they are to be students, selected members, and models of the church. Second, they should adjust their time. Finally, they should adjust their ideas to work where people can see them.
Even though the time for the study is short, the courses are highly diverse. Totally there are eight courses, including the state of the current church, pastoral counseling, church theology, Old Testament theology, leadership studies, Chinese religion, church-state analysis, and spirituality. They invited both domestic and foreign scholars, experts, and professors to teach.
For the course on the state of the current church they invited Professor Li Xiangping from East China Normal University's Centre for Religious and Social Studies to talk about ten issues in developing religions with Chinese characteristics.
1. A Marxist view on religion and Atheism with Chinese characteristics: National matters, or Party problems: A personal faith?
2. Relationships between one and many gods; The relationships of gods made by man or no god, one god, and many gods; connecting man and God or man agreeing with God; The relationship between justification by faith and faith by justification?
3. The Chinese belief characterized by god made by man: religion and other styles of belief, and Chinese identity relations.
4. Supernatural divinity or super societal divinity; the relationship between divinity and secularization;
5. The relationship of organic solidarity, mechanical solidarity, and class solidarity;
6. The deep relationship between the cultures of religion and reality;
7. The relationship between national secular and religious law.
8. Individualization or personalization? How to prevent the trap of "personal belief"?
9. The Relationship between Chinese characteristics and juridification;
10. The relationship between Chinese characteristics and globalization;
The pastoral counseling class invited Pastor Chen Fengsheng of Hangzhou Sicheng Church to teach on marriage and family counseling ministries. He encouraged students to become people who write, since pastoral fellow workers should be able not only to talk but also to write. "This is a great challenge for us." Chen stated that serving today is not homogenous but diverse. He continued that we need an awareness of crises, and through writing and the internet we can serve more people. Chen used his personal experience to testify to the grace of God put upon him.
Pastor Chen told everyone that successful counseling means bringing men before God. Church pastoring should emphasize marriage and family counseling, and premarital counseling is easy to start. Pastoring guidance should not be used for counseling because sometimes pastors talk too much and listen too little. Listening is love and there is healing in understanding. Men should be brought before God so that they may face Him about their relationship independently.
Chen also mentioned that in marriage and family counseling there is an important concept. Husbands are to leave their parents and unite to their wives. Most men do not leave their parents. Men should be the head of the family. Parents also need to leave so that their children are able to develop. This will also allow the parents further growth as they let go.
During the intense one month course, students in the pasturing classes "adopted" students from the normal class to form care groups to improve interactions between students.
